As a second-year graduate student, I want to apply for a PHD program in Northern Europe. What materials do I need?

Degree Requirements

One thing to note when applying for a Nordic PhD is that you must have a master's degree. The implication is that you must have a master's degree and hold a master's degree certificate when applying. Since PhD is regarded as a position, it is necessary for employees to hold the required degree when joining the job.

Language requirements

You do not need to speak Danish, Swedish, Norwegian or Finnish, but you must have a certain level of English proficiency. Although English is not the official language of the Nordic countries, the English level of the people in the Nordic countries is quite good. There is no problem in using English to deal with daily life and study scientific research. However, learning the local language can help you quickly adapt and integrate into local life.

As far as language proficiency tests are concerned, both TOEFL and IELTS are accepted. The minimum requirements for TOEFL or IELTS can be found in the specific Position Descriptions. If you are mainly applying for Nordic or European PhD, IELTS can cover applications to most schools in Europe.

?Cover Letter?

In Northern Europe, PhD is regarded as a job, so a Cover Letter is one of the necessities when you are looking for a job. Cover Letter is something you need to pay attention to. Its function is similar to the Personal Statement or Statement of Purpose required for North American, British and Australian applications. However, the form is similar to a cover letter, and it needs to reflect personal information, position matching research interests, research capabilities, and desire for the position in a relatively short text.

?Research Proposal

Each posted Position will have a corresponding project or topic introduction. What personal thoughts and implementation plans you have for a given topic are also important factors for tutors to use when recruiting. Will focus on inspection. Then specific ideas and plans must be reflected through Research Proposal. However, because the duration of information release for each position is not necessarily certain (the application deadline will be mentioned in the Descriptions), this requires you to develop a qualified Research Proposal within a given time.

?Other requirements

The reason why materials such as degree certificates, transcripts, CVs and letters of recommendation (or recommenders) are classified as other materials here is that these materials are required for various degree applications around the world. They are all similar, so I won’t go into details here